i am trying to stick to the deficit and noticed the only way to make seasoning stick is when i add butter or olive oil. wihtout seasoning it taste like cardboard. any tips to add flavour to air poped pocorn without the extra calories?
someone mentioned onion powder, and i would say that the key to that, and the key to answering your more fundamental question about general spices, is to go for the absolute finest grind you can get. The thing that works with “dry” popcorn is to get it while it is just fresh popped and then use super finely ground spices/salt/etc. take a look at popcorn salt sometime - it is one of the finest ground freely available grades of salt, for a reason. It’s a mechanical thing - smaller pieces adhere to the popcorn much more easily. you’ll also get a slight uptick from the popcorn being warm/hot when seasoned.
I get a small bowl of water & dip my fingers to get some water on them. Then I flick some of the water and then add salt. You can repeat it as much as you need but I find that once is usually enough (I don’t make mine very salty). I also sometimes use my hands to toss the popcorn to spread the salt. It just adds enough moisture for the salt to stick, but not make it soggy!
Or you could try add salt right away after it’s popped & put a plate to cover the bowl. The steam would help the salt or other seasonings stick. Like someone said earlier, the finer the ground, the better.
Some seasonings bloom in oil. Salt doesn’t but pepper does. I add lots of ground pepper to the hot oil along with the test kernels and make super peppery popcorn. Salt added after popping. Love it. My favorite favorite snack!
you can use soy sauce, lime juice, tabasco sauce, or vinegar to coat the popcorn before you season it, instead of using a fat or butter. make sure your seasoning is ground so it sticks and distributes easier. and if you want to get really fancy, you can invest in a mister, rather than just pouring the liquid into the bowl. it uses less and makes it less soggy:)